Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) crossed the finish line of the Valdobbiadene and stopped by the TV screen near the mixed zone to watch Joao Almeida ( Deceuninck-Quick-Step), who won the Maria Rosa in the Giro d'Italia stage 14 time trial, stared at him as he raced through the last kilometer.

Kelderman was determined to take the neo-professional pink jersey, even though his priority was to close the time gap to eventual overall winners such as Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana ProTeam). Conegliano rolled down the start slope in an attempt to take the pink jersey.

Kelderman was 1:06 ahead of Nibali and 1:25 ahead of Fursang, and he knew he would not have the maglia rosa on the podium on Saturday. Still, he wanted to see Almeida run for himself.

Almeida finished in sixth place, 1:30 behind stage winner Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and 16 seconds behind Kelderman; after 14 stages, the Dutchman was still in second place overall, but 56 seconds behind Almeida.

"I saw the results right away, and we actually had a good TT," Kelderman said. 'Yeah, it was good. I knew Almeida was a TT specialist. He was second in Palermo (stage 1), and he is a time trial specialist. The big mountains are still to come, so I'm happy with the result now." [It's hard to beat Almeida in a time trial. But looking back on myself, I think I did a good TT. I'm better than Nibali and the other leading riders, so I think that's another good point."

Prior to this weekend, Nibali had marked Kelderman as the most in shape of the GC favorites and a danger in the time trial.

"If you compete in the Giro and you know ahead of time that there will be a lot of TT distances, you train a little extra for that," the Dutch rider said, and on Saturday he lived up to Nibali's expectations.

In the GC, Kelderman is the only man within 2 minutes of Almeida, 1:15 ahead of Pello Bilbao (3rd overall), 1:34 ahead of Nibali (5th), and 3:12 ahead of Frugsan (11th). Kelderman's hopes of racing for a podium finish have been steadily rising since his attack on the Etna summit finish line on stage 3. He was also the leader among the GC men at Roccaraso last weekend. Sunday's summit finish in Piancavallo is a unique opportunity.

"I'm surprised myself. So far, the whole Giro has gone better than I expected," Kelderman said. There are still big mountains to climb and the last week will be hard. In the end, the difference is going to be in minutes, not seconds anymore.